The One
by noideagirl
Summary: Lily compares dates she's been on. Marauders era. Lily/James Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: If I were J. K. Rowling, I would have an aircondition in my house, and I wouldn't be sweating as typing this...**

* * *

"Hey Lily"

I turned around. A 6th year Ravenclaw that I had potions with was standing behind my chair.

"Hi, um... Josh, right?" I said, hoping I'd remembered his name.

His face lit up. 'Guess I got it right' I thought to myself.

"Yeah, that's right." He paused, then continued confidently "Well you know there's a Hogsmead trip coming up?"

"Yes, Josh, I'm a prefect... I help to organise them, remember?" I replied, knowing where this was going and hoping I could stop it.

"Cool, yeah. Well I thought you might like to go with me"

My mouth twitched into a grimace momentarily, then I caught a glimpse of **him** over Josh's shoulder.

"Ah... yeah, sure, why not?" I replied, unsure as to whether I'd made the right idea.

"Excellent. See you then! Meet outside the gates?"

"Sure"

He flashed me a smile then walked away.

A moment later **he** came over. "You're going on a date with Josh?!" He asked, sounding outraged. "Josh McLachlan?!"

I met his eyes defiantly. "Yes, James. What about it?"

"He's Ravenclaw!" He replied as if that explained everything. "We're playing Ravenclaw the next day! Where's your house spirit?!"

I sighed and turned away. "Go away Potter, I'm studying"

* * *

"You're so beautiful, Lily" He said softly, staring at my face as if entranced.

Internally I cringed. Anyone who knew me understood how much I hated being called beautiful. On the outside however, I turned my head to look at him and gave him a small smile.

He smiled smugly back at me.

Already I felt impatient. This wasn't going to work. 'We' weren't going to work. But I'd suffer through this date because I said I would.

"Where would you like to go, Josh?" I asked softly.

His eyes fluttered closed for an instant then he stared intently at me. "Wherever you want to go."

I sighed almost silently then responded "The Three Broomsticks?"

He nodded.

We walked there in silence. I didn't look at him, but I knew he was staring at my face when he wasn't looking where he was walking.

This was going to be a long day.

Once in the bar, we grabbed a seat in the front corner next to the window. I sat down, looking over a couple of tables to see my friends. I wanted nothing more than to go over and sit with them, but I smiled at Josh as he asked me what I wanted to drink.

"Butterbeer" I answered him quickly.

He gave a nod and walked to the bar.

I looked back towards my friends to see Marlene staring back at me.

"How's it going?" I saw her mouth to me.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

She gave a silent laugh then rolled her eyes back at me.

"We'll talk later" she mouthed.

I nodded just as Josh came back.

"Here's your butterbeer" he said cheerfully, before checking to see where I had been looking. "Ah... your friends. I didn't think we'd see them today"

I shrugged. "I don't control where they go" I stated calmly.

He nodded firmly "I know. I just assumed they'd want to give you privacy"

My head jerked up to look him in the eyes. "They're not over here, are they? They're allowed to have some drinks if that's what they want to do"

He met my eyes looking shocked. "I know they are. I wasn't critising, it was just a comment"

I let my head drop to look at my drink, wondering why I even bothered with dates these days.

"Lily" his tone sounded almost pleading.

I took a sip of my drink, before looking back up at him.

'Nevermind, let's talk about something else' I suggested softly.

He gave me one last glance, before nodding and asking 'What do you want to do after school?'

I sighed, having heard this question a thousand times before. I took another sip of my drink before answering. 'A healer maybe. Or an Auror. I'm not really sure.'

He looked shocked. 'But... I thought you'd have it all worked out.'

I sighed again, taking another sip. 'Everyone does'

There was an awkward silence, in which we both sat drinking our drinks.

'What about you?' I asked after a little while.

'Oh, I want to be a professional Quidditch player.' He responded quickly, a little too eagerly.

'Oh.' I replied. 'Cool'

I went to take another sip of my drink and realised it was empty. I looked at his and saw his was too.

'Oh, would you like another round?' I asked, standing up.

He stood swiftly. 'It's ok, I'll get it.'

I shook my head. 'You got the last one. It's my turn.'

'No. No.' He protested firmly. 'I invited you out. I'll get the drinks'

'But -' I started but was interrupted.

'No buts. I'll be back in a minute'

I huffed under my breath and flopped back down on the chair.

A minute later, he was back. 'Here's your drink, Lily.' He slid the drink in front of me.

I looked up to thank him, and caught a glance of Potter and his friends seated at the table behind Josh.

I met Potter's moody eyes, momentarily, and my face turn into a smile before I looked at Josh.

He spun his head round swiftly, then back to me.

Silence.

A couple of hours later I was trudging back to the castle, with Josh still by my side.

'Lily' he called, when we reached the entrance.

I turned to look at him. 'Josh. Look, you're a nice guy. Really. But -'

He stopped me with his hand. 'No need to say anything, Lily. I understand. I wish you happiness with him'

I blinked. 'What? Who?'

'James Potter.' He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 'It's obvious you like him. You should tell him' And with that, he turned and walked away from me.

I stood as still as a statue staring after him.

* * *

"So..." Marlene started, dragging out the 'o' sound. "Spill"

"He was lovely." I stated. "Perfectly lovely, but not at all my type"

Marlene's eyes flashed with something akin to laughter but she just said "Continue"

"He called me beautiful" My nose twitched with disdain.

"AH." Katie responded, her eyes glittering with laughter. "The classic mistake. You know, Lils, you really have to get over this delusion that when a guy says you're beautiful it's the only thing he likes about you."

"I never said it'd be the only thing, just a main contributing factor. Which, personally, I just think is shallow" I paused "Anyway, we've been through this a thousand times"

'We have.' Marlene replied, nodding affirmatively. 'Anyway, what else? Not even you would turn down a guy just for calling you beautiful.'

'He made me decide everything we'd do.' I replied, thinking back on everything I'd hated about the date. 'He asked me what I wanted to be as a legitimate topic of conversation.' I paused, looking at their laughing faces. 'He wouldn't let me buy drinks.'

Katie stopped laughing. 'Well that IS wrong. It's not like the two of you are actually dating.'

I smiled, glad someone agreed with me.

'Anything else?' Marlene questioned, not satisfied.

'Yeah.' I responded. 'One more thing. He was annoyed that you guys were in the Three Broomsticks at the same time as us. Apparently you should want to "give us privacy" and not be where we were.'

The whole room went silent, and my friends stared at me, mouths agape.

'I know right.'

* * *

"Hey Lily?" The voice coming from behind me was cautious.

I smiled for an instant before turning around. "Hey" My tone was soft. He was a friend now, not like before when we would fight so loudly that it echoed through the corridors.

"I- I need to talk to you" he said, obviously nervous.

I gave a short glance to my friends to tell them to head off without me, then faced him. "What's the matter?" I asked, concerned.

"I know I've asked this before, but I was stupid then and -" He paused "I think things have changed since then. And I can't continue like this without knowing. I just.... -" He bit his lip. "Merlin Lily, I like you so much and - " He took a deep breath "Would you accompany me to Hogsmead this Saturday?"

My lips twitched into a smile. "Are you asking me out, James?"

He looked into my eyes; his eyes making him appear like he was terrified. But maybe he was.

He nodded.

"Why not?" I thought. "Maybe Josh was right"

I looked at James, and felt a wave of affection run through me.

"Yes." I whispered loud enough for him to hear.

His mouth fell open. He blinked. He closed his mouth and then licked his lips.

"Okay" he murmured. "... Okay" he repeated after taking a pause to let out a breath he'd obviously been holding.

I smiled. "I'll see you then James. Meet after breakfast? At the Great Hall?"

I paused a moment, still smiling and momentarily placed my hand on his arm.

Then before he could see me blush, I turned and continued walking as if I'd never been interrupted.

* * *

We arrived in Hogsmead, amongst the first students there.

James looked around excitedly, like a kid in a candy store. "Can we go to Zonkos?" He asked, firmly.

I looked at his excited face and unconsciously smiled. 'Sure James'

He looked down at me, his face turning to a warm smile. 'Then to the Three Broomsticks? I know you like going there.'

My hand reached out, unbidden, to hold his. 'Sounds great'

The moment my hand touched his, his fingers reached out to mine and tangled themself together, to trap my hand in his.

A blush spread across my face; I dropped my head to look at the ground, hiding behind my hair.

His hand reached up to brush my hair out of my face. 'Don't hide. I love your eyes. They show so much.'

Startled, I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding and my mouth dropped open just a little bit.

He smiled at me. 'I love watching your expressions.'

My eyes met his; blazing green eyes meeting his warm brown ones.

A moment passed before we both simultaneously broke away.

'To Zonko's?' I asked with a quivering voice.

'Yeah.'

A few minutes later, we left Zonko's, laughing, carrying 2 big bags of prank materials each.

We hurried quickly to the Three Broomsticks, ensuring an entire table to ourselves. James placed his bags down on the table.

'Butterbeer, yeah?'

I nodded.

While he was gone, I skimmed the crowd to see if my friends were there.

Sure enough, there they were, at the same table as always.

And Marlene was looking back at me. Her eyebrows rose, questioningly.

I smiled.

Her eyebrows shot up higher, causing my smile to widen, and I had to stop myself from laughing out loud.

'Here's your...' James stopped halfway through, and turned to look at Marlene.

'That was quick.' I said, looking immediately at him.

He shot a quick questioning look at me, before asking 'Do you want to go sit with your friends?' tentatively.

I shook my head automatically. 'Nah, it's good.' I smiled warmly at him.

His face softened. And he sat down with the drinks.

What seemed like hours later, but was really only 20 minutes, I noticed that our drinks were both empty.

I looked at the glasses, then to Marlene who was trying to subtly spy on us, to James, then back to the glasses.

I stood quickly. 'Want a refill? It's my round.' I asked.

He smiled, 'Yeah, sure, but I'm buying the next.'

I grinned at him. 'Of course.'

I went to the bar, noticing as Marlene came up behind me almost silently.

'How's it going?' She whispered.

I turned slightly to face her 'I don't want to speak too soon, but I think he's the one' I said, trying to keep the laughter out of my voice.

Her eyes bulged. 'Really?!'

'Marlene' I spoke slowly as if talking to a child 'I don't believe in "the one". You should know that'

-----------

It turned out I was right about him though.

James Potter really was the one.

But I didn't know that until we kissed later that day.

And I didn't realise that I'd known it from that moment until several months later.

* * *

**AN: Just a little oneshot I thought up whilst not sleeping for the 3rd time this week... Hope you enjoyed.**


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